CHELMSFORD -- Those who came to pay their final respects to Dennis Ready at Blake Chelmsford Funeral Home late last month were greeted by a police honor guard.

The Chelmsford Elks rang the bells for one last 11th-hour toast, said Karen Uttecht, Ready's daughter.

The town seal was embroidered inside his casket lid, at the arrangement of the funeral director and Town Manager Paul Cohen.

The following morning, Ready's funeral procession wended its way from St. Mary Parish to Pine Ridge Cemetery, past flags lowered to half-staff, police detail officers saluting at every intersection .

They were final honors for the man who had been involved in town politics and community service 50 years.

And everyone, it seems, has a story about "Mr.

Dennis Ready waves as he passes through Chelmsford Center during the July 4, 2008, parade where he was honored as Democrat of the year. Courtesy photo

Chelmsford."

Close friend John Harrington was a police officer, and Ready would accompany him on a patrol. Usually such ride-alongs were the purview of the shift commander and done during the day. Ready insisted on riding the late-night shift.

It was an eventful night, first with a car chase andba then an accident. They pulled up as the tow truck driver was attaching the damaged car.

The driver, seeing then-selectmen Chairman Ready, immediately grabbed his broom and began to sweep up the glass on the road. Officers had to remind to drivers to cleanup, Harrington said.

Not this time.

"I think he swept a whole 50 feet," Harrington said. "The road had never been so clean because Dennis Ready was there.

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Dennis' younger brother, Bernard Ready, became carried away at a Christmas party in his early 20s and agreed to be Scoutmaster of the Boy Scout troop that met at the Elks. It was a job no one had wanted, and the troop was in danger of disbanding. In the morning, Bernard realized he wasn't able to commit to the task, but didn't want to disappoint the kids and their parents.

"Dennis was a First Class Scout. I never made it past Tenderfoot," Bernard said. "I said, 'Dennis, I got myself in a big jam here.

Dennis Ready, center, with his sons, Kevin Ready, left, and Joe Ready at a friend's wedding in June 2004.

What am I going to do?'"

Dennis, who had no children then, agreed to be the Scoutmaster for two years, saving the troop. His sons, Kevin and Joe, would later join it.

Donna Ready, Dennis's wife, began holding candidate signs and participating in Elks events not long after they met.

Their third date was to an Elks Halloween costume ball. Dennis dressed as a Confederate general, and Donna as a Southern belle.

"He went and got Confederate money, drank Southern Comfort and he had a sword," which he used to pop a balloon in another attendee's costume, Donna said with a laugh.

They played their parts so well people questioned where Donna was from.

"The rival state of Billerica," she'd reply.

Dennis and Donna Ready in 2005.

The couple won the contest prize, a Boston Rocker chair. It went home to Billerica with Donna, which made the natives furious.

"Five years later, I said, 'If you want the Boston Rocker, you're going to have to marry me,'" Donna said.

The chair still resides at their Parkhurst Road home.

Before a town charter and a town manager, the Board of Selectmen ran the town. That often meant responding to many resident calls.

One year, a woman called during a power outage, panicked because her husband required an iron lung, Donna and Joe recalled.

Dennis told her he would call Walter Hedlund, the town's emergency management director, to help right away.

"You insensitive bastard!" the woman said, and hung up, Joe related.

Dennis Ready campaigns with his son, Joe Ready, when he ran for Boston City Council in 2005. Courtesy photo

Ready had forgotten. Hedlund also was a funeral director.

Rita Mercier took Dennis' "How To Run For Public Office" seminar in the mid-1990s before she ran for Lowell City Council. She was elected in 1996, and has held the seat since, topping the ticket in nearly every re-election.

Mercier, a former mayor, brought her mother to the class, not wanting to go alone,

By the end, even her mother wanted to run, she said.

"He always used to say, 'Make eye contact and give a hearty handshake.' So many tips," Mercier said. "He said, 'If you get elected, get back to the people calling you. Don't forget anybody. Make sure you campaign and you try to get to everybody.' I never forgot him, my teacher."

Mercier was a frequent guest on his Town Talk cable show for years after that.

He'd always introduce her as, "one of my best students."

Joe Ready ran for Boston City Council in 2005. His father prepared him so well for debates that Joe started to scare the entire field of candidates, which included a lot of big Boston names.

One day they were out holding signs, and a car with a big sign for the incumbent mayor, Tom Menino, pulled up.

A group of guys got out and began heckling Joe, saying they hadn't heard of him before.

Dennis replied, "Well, if he's so proud of being the mayor of Boston, you'd think he'd put Boston on his sign."

They drove off. Twenty minutes later they returned, with a sign that read "Menino Boston Mayor."

Joe later met Menino at a party. Menino told him, "The stories of your father are legendary."

Ready Real Estate Realtor Patrick Colpoys recalled how Dennis captivated an entire room with a tale from his time in the Army Reserves at a recent Christmas party.

Dennis and his fellow soldiers were playing war games, and his objective was to capture the general. After a few hours Dennis and his buddies got restless and decided to take a break for a beer run. That's when he found the general, Colpoys said.

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